


roots growing under the floorboards

by vellichore



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Breakup, Canon Compliant, Drabble, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:02:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24900523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vellichore/pseuds/vellichore
Summary: snippet of the itikyk scene from nini's pov
Relationships: Ricky Bowen & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	roots growing under the floorboards

**Author's Note:**

> this is literally... so short, but nini supremacy <3

Nini’s Lola Malou once informed her that being in a relationship was like planting a flower. Yes, it required an abundance of love and nourishment and patience— but a successful gardener must also be willing to let it grow in unexpected ways, to allow the stem to curl and sometimes wither, but to love it all the same. Nini didn’t always understand the nuance behind the analogy, but she loved it nonetheless.

It’s the way she always viewed her love for Ricky Bowen. She loved him when they were in kindergarten and he shyly offered her a new name. She loved him when they were in grade school and he cheered for her after she sang her first song. She loved him when they were in middle school and he took her to the awful Valentine’s dance in the cafeteria, and made her laugh the entire night. Squeezed pinkies turned into hugs turned into movie-night cuddles turned into kisses on cheeks turned into more. Their love wasn’t always easy, but together they grew. Sure, she was a little young and starry-eyed to be throwing the word _love_ around, at least in the romantic fashion: but Ricky had always been there. So, on a whim, she grabbed her ukulele and translated her feelings into lyrics— because, of course, he would meet her halfway.

So when he's sprawled across her lap, concentrated on some stupid skateboarding video— she takes a leap of faith, and hits post. She lets a couple likes and comments float in, before she gets his attention, directing him towards Instagram. And she’s certain of them, she is: but the butterflies in her stomach don’t seem to be aware of that.

His face as she starts singing is adorably shocked, and she sets her head on his shoulder as it continues. It’s a moment she wouldn’t mind freezing in time.

“I do, Ricky” she whispers, “I love you.”

So, she awaits his overenthusiastic praise or maybe his reciprocation, because it’s Ricky, and that’s what he does. His voice is choked and unfamiliar when he finally responds.

“Oh.” He has the whole white-boy-deer-in-headlights look down to a T, and she doesn’t particularly understand what’s happening.

“Oh?”

“Uh. Um. Yeah. It’s just… a really big thing, y’know, to post online.” She makes a quiet noise of acknowledgement, because it’s not like she really cared about anyone’s opinion on it other than his. “And um. Look, I’ve been thinking… you’re just gonna be out of town for like a month, right? And you’ll probably have no reception in the woods. Maybe we should just, like, _chill_ , for a minute, you know. Take a temporary pause.”

She doesn’t remember the entire sentence, long and rambling as it is, but her breath catches on his use of the word _pause,_ because she didn’t realize that it was even a possibility for him. It’s the last possible route she envisioned this conversation taking. She loved him, and he was indifferent. She loved him, and he didn’t even want her? It was a type of rejection that wormed its way into her heart, and turned it a little bit colder. Because it was Ricky, who was the one person who knew every whimsical truth and jagged piece that composed her person.

So she sits on her bed, and listens to his phone ring, and watches him leave. She sits there, and realizes, that perhaps, he hadn’t really been growing with her after all.


End file.
